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Some of the most common reasons for personal injury lawsuits in Texas are car accidents. Whether your accident is relatively minor or you experience devastating injuries, you should contact a lawyer for help. You deserve financial compensation, and our legal team will help you get it.
After a car accident, you need urgent medical care, but what about your car? Will you be able to return to work? What if you had important personal belongings inside the car that were damaged or destroyed? All these injuries and losses will add up to major expenses, and an attorney can help you get financial compensation. You may begin with an insurance claim, but you may need to take things further if insurance is not enough.
Ask our car accident lawyers for a free, confidential legal analysis to begin your case by calling The Queenan Law Firm at (817) 476-1797.
How Can You Get Financial Compensation After a Car Accident?
Financial compensation can be difficult to obtain after a car accident. Even when the other driver is clearly at fault, they will likely resist paying fair compensation. This is where a lawyer should step in to help you.
Explore Your Insurance Options
Most injured drivers hope that insurance will be enough to cover all their damages, as most people prefer to avoid lawsuits. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Insurance can be helpful, but it may be somewhat limited. If the accident was severe, your damages may exceed policy limits. Alternatively, you might have a hard time finding evidence to support your claims, and the other driver’s insurance might refuse to pay you based on a lack of evidence.
File a Lawsuit
When insurance is simply insufficient or unavailable, you should speak to our car accident attorneys about filing a lawsuit against the other driver. In a lawsuit, your damages are not limited by policy terms, and you may be awarded the full extent of your damages.
If you had trouble finding evidence to support your claims in an insurance claim, your lawyer should help you find what you need. Your lawyer should have the skills and experience needed to quickly find evidence and use it to your advantage.
Work Out a Settlement
After we file a lawsuit, we may be able to avoid a lengthy trial by negotiating a settlement with the defendant and their insurance. Ideally, a good settlement should be more than what the insurance might have initially offered you when you first filed a claim, and it should be enough to cover all your costs from the accident.
If the defendant refuses to agree to a fair settlement, we can walk away from negotiations and proceed to trial.
Should You File an Insurance Claim or a Lawsuit for a Car Accident in Bryan, TX?
As discussed before, many injured drivers file insurance claims first and, when those claims do not pan out for one reason or another, they move on to a lawsuit. You may be wondering which option is best, but the answer will vary from case to case.
Limited Insurance Policies
Insurance can be very helpful for some drivers, and it may be enough to cover all their costs, allowing them to recover from their injuries in peace. Unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone.
In Texas, drivers must file third-party claims with the at-fault driver’s insurance, and they must provide evidence proving that the other driver is truly at fault. If the insurance company does not believe your evidence is sufficient, it may deny your claim. Remember, insurance companies are not courtrooms, and they may accept or reject evidence as they see fit, which often works against injured drivers.
Uninsured Drivers
In other cases, insurance is not available because the at-fault driver is uninsured. While the other driver may face serious penalties for failing to have auto insurance, you may have even more difficulty obtaining compensation.
You may rely on certain first-party benefits if you have any. For example, you have the option of purchasing personal injury protection (IP) coverage that would cover you after an accident regardless of who is at fault. You might also have a MedPay policy that should help you cover medical expenses.
Claiming the Full Extent of Your Damages
Whether the other driver’s insurance is limited or unavailable, or your claim was denied, it can be difficult to obtain compensation for the full extent of your damages. Even when economic damages are covered, non-economic damages can be trickier to assess.
If the at-fault driver’s policy covers non-economic damages, compensation is likely more limited. Non-economic damages can be hard to prove, as they are highly subjective, and a lawsuit may be necessary to net you the full value of these damages.
FAQs About Car Accident Claims in Bryan, TX
How Do You File an Insurance Claim for a Car Accident in Bryan, TX?
Texas is a fault-based state regarding auto insurance, meaning injured drivers must file third-party claims with the at-fault driver’s liability coverage. Additionally, injured drivers must provide the insurance company with evidence of the other driver’s fault before they can receive any compensation.
What Damages Should You Claim in a Car Accident Case?
You should claim damages related to your economic expenses, including medical costs, property damage, and lost income from missing work due to your injuries. You should also claim non-economic damages revolving around pain, suffering, distress, and other painful experiences that are not necessarily related to money.
How Do You Support Your Car Accident Claims with Evidence?
We need evidence of your injuries, how the accident happened, and the defendant’s negligence. Witness testimony, video footage, photos of the accident scene, and your medical records may all be important pieces of the evidentiary puzzle.
What Should You Do if You Are Severely Injured in a Car Accident?
Some car accidents lead to injuries so severe that victims never fully recover. They may require long-term or indefinite medical care, which can be extremely expensive over their lifetimes. As such, you may need to estimate future medical costs and add them to your claims. When permanent injuries or disabilities exist, future damages may be enormous.
Begin Your Case with Out Car Accident Attorneys in Bryan, TX
Ask our car accident lawyers for a free, confidential legal analysis to begin your case by calling The Queenan Law Firm at (817) 476-1797.